NEWTIMES

Baku, 18 November 2020 – Newtimes.az

The United States and its NATO allies are trying to stir up discord between the peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia, said Sergei Naryshkin, Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Russian media report.

"The leading NATO countries are trying to hide their irritation with the agreement reached with the active participation of Russia by Azerbaijan and Armenia on a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. The United States and its allies are annoyed that the war was stopped with the mediation of Moscow. After all, this, in fact, "nullified" their many years of work to oust Russia from the South Caucasus," Naryshkin said, quoted by the SVR press bureau.

'Neither Washington, nor the "United Europe" want to put up with the existing balance of power in the region. In order to "dismantle" it, they did not think of anything better than to try again to stir up discord between the peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia,' he added.

Sergei Naryshkin also accused the United States and Western countries of provoking Azerbaijani and Armenian nationalists.

"According to the information we have, some Western countries, through the available channels, provoke Armenian and Azerbaijani nationalists to discredit and break the ceasefire agreement. They are trying to convince Armenians that peace in Nagorno-Karabakh is Yerevan's defeat. The idea of the necessity of "war to the bitter end" is thrown in. Azerbaijanis, on the other hand, are told that the Kremlin "stole victory from them" when the Azerbaijani Army was one step away from taking Stepanakert [Khankendi]," Naryshkin said in a statement released by the SVR press bureau on Wednesday.